RPO code 1LE was first triggered 25 years ago, and originally intended to enhance the performance of IROC-Z in SCCA Showroom Stock road racing events. It included 11.65-inch rotors with 2-piston aluminum calipers, an aluminum driveshaft, a special baffled fuel tank, specific shock absorbers, and stiffer suspension bushings. The 1LE was a well-kept secret and very few were built.

This special package was known in Chevrolet Engineering as 1LE, but it was not an offered as an official ordered RPO feature. The 1LE Special Performance Components Package was triggered when the G92 Performance Axle option was ordered, G80 Limited-slip 3.42 rear and the C60 air conditioning option was not ordered.

The third-generation 1990 Chevrolet Camaro 1LE is the modern day 2013 Camaro SS 1LE’s namesake. Featured in our June 1990 issue (and again in the current issue of Motor Trend Classic), the original 1988 Camaro 1LE was a secret way for consumers to get their hands on a showroom-stock racecar.

Driven today, the 1988 1LE package feels Neolithic, with the suspension compliance of a pool table and a rock crusher of a shift lever. But there’s power, and unmistakable race-car soul. There’s also no denying the benefits aspiring pros saw from the factory fixes. The 1LE Camaros became the hot setup, not only for the Players Challenge and Firehawk championships, but the SCCA’s Showroom Stock GT class as well.